Shaping the Inclusion, Wellness, and Motivation Landscape in the Workplace
Photo by Camille Brodard on Unsplash
“We know through painful experience, that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” This quote was written by Dr. Martin Luther King in his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It’s a powerful sentiment that srikes at the heart of the fact that we live in a world where structures, systems, and policies have been created by design for a homogenous group of people — and that includes our workplaces. The rest of us, those that don’t fall within this homogenous group, must fight for autonomy from these people.
Full disclosure, I wrote this column while being on my fourth cold since the summer. I tested negative for COVID but, really, who knows. To be safe, I isolated myself in a room and settled into watching feel-good movies. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie, Dumplin’ for two reasons: one, I discovered Dolly Parton’s stance on being yourself and doing what you want and two, I was inspired by the teenage characters revolutionizing the pageant system in their town. As Dolly’s song, Nine-to-Five, played I couldn’t help but be resolute in my stance, workplaces may not have been built for us, and employers may still be dictating what’s best for us, but to paraphrase Margaret Mead, “never forget that a small group of thoughtful, committed [employees] can change the [future of work], it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Gone may be the days of men being hunters and women being gatherers, and yes there have been strides made to make our workplaces better, but a lot more needs to be done with connecting human resource management decisions, like where and how we work, with employee inclusion, wellness, and motivation. And there is lots of work to be done so that organizations can create a good balance of employee needs, employee rights, employee wellness and operational requirements, goals, and purpose. The work of people like Lily Zheng (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)), Kimberlé W. Crenshaw (Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality), Marshall Rosenberg (Non-Violent Communication and Human Needs), Guarding Minds at Work (Workplace Strategies for Mental Health), and Dr. Paul Ekman, Eve Ekman and the Dali Lama (Atlas of Emotions) are helping to pave the way. Those tasked with making and executing human resources decisions definitely have their work cut out for them and one of the latest topics is where and how we work — whether it be in-person, virtually, or hybrid.
As we continue to navigate through a “new normal” including the variations of where and how we work — in-person, remote, or hybrid — I’m hoping the dreadful pandemic which forced all but essential service workers for a period of time to work from home, the insurgence of DEI commitments spurred by the murder of George Floyd, and a systems-thinking approach to human resources management will result in a future of where and how we work beyond prehistoric mindsets.
Where and how we work — doing it the wrong way
On December 21, 2022, one of the largest employers in Canada, the Federal Government, proudly announced the adoption of “a common hybrid work model” espousing fairness, consistency, equity, building trust, and enhancing learning as the drivers to this approach. They also mandated employees report to work “on site at least two-to-three days each week, or 40–60 percent of their regular schedule.”
Why is this the wrong way? Well it’s not so much that hybrid workplaces are wrong for the federal government, in fact, like many organizations, had the pandemic not happened, the vast majority of employees would still be commuting to offices on a full-time basis. As well, the information on the pros and cons of hybrid workplaces is overwhelming.
So fine, the federal government is going hybrid. What’s wrong is the approach they have taken. Outside of the sales-type messaging, important concepts such as equity and collaboration have been used to ‘defend’ their autocratic leadership decision. What’s also wrong is their linear-thinking, yielding of positional power, and leaving unions, middle-managers, Human Resources Practitioners, and employees to fend for themselves.
I call this approach to human resource management decision-making “systemic stubbornness.” Unless I’m mistaken, why we work, who works, where we work, and how we work is iterative and constantly changing. The denial of these changes is a form of stubbornness that impacts social systems, like workplaces, and more importantly employees. This systemic stubbornness is feeding antiquated workplace systems.
Where and how we work — doing it the right way
Prior to George Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020, I had not heard the phrase “the system isn’t broken, it was built this way” (I’m still looking for the original source). As I continue to learn about racism and its impact on our workplaces, I came across another quote accredited to sociologist, historian, and civil right activist W.E.B Debois, “A system cannot protect those it was never meant to protect.” As a systems-thinker dedicated to humanizing workplaces, I can’t help but to see linkages between anti-racism, inclusion, equity, mental health, motivation, and HR conversations like “where and how we work.” So, it stands to reason that I get annoyed when I see siloed approaches and ways of thinking. The reality is that the workplaces of old were built for a certain group of people and workplaces now and in the future must evolve from there.
So, how can companies do this the the right way? They might be inspired by Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify who isn’t shy about reimagining work. He tweeted two years ago “office centricity is over.” Perhaps organizations might be swayed to adopt the real-deal employee-centric mindset of Gloria Chen, Adobe’s Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President, Employee Experience who sees the impact of the pandemic as “an opportunity and need to reimagine the employee experience.” Organizations may also choose to research the myriad of articles, ideas, and statistics being generated on in-person, virtual, and hybrid workplaces or the future of work to see what might apply to them. As of January 7, 2023, trending on Tiktok are the hashtags hybridwork with 32.1M views and futureofwork with 23.9M views. Regardless of the path you choose, I ask you consider the following:
Diversity is a fact and inclusion is a choice. Choose inclusion over ulterior motives.
Be honest and provide a balanced perspective in your messaging to employees. Diversity means one size does not fit all.
Employees should be treated with dignity and respect. Ask them to provide feedback on where and how to work and actually take it seriously.
Connect employee, team, and organizational goals so everyone is on the same page and is accountable.
Employees want autonomy in determining their wellness needs. There are eight dimensions of wellness and work is just one of them.
Be flexible and okay with not having to run the show. Your organizational values and principles should guide decision-making.
Employees have different needs. Don’t assume to know what motivates them.
When we have empathy we can be compassionate. When we are real with ourselves and with others we have trust. Where we work is just as important as how we work, so let’s just be real about it all and get on with working with and on purpose.
